Video: Trail Building in British Columbia's Kootenay Mountains

 Castlegar Trails are amazing! I live in Rossland and everyone in town knows that some of the best new trails in the area are being built in Castlegar. So cool to see Sarah and crew get to share their story. If you are in the West Kootenys go check out Merry Creek to ride!

 Such an important message. Support wherever you ride! We are privileged to access the sport we love at no cost(minus the bikes of course!). If you ride your local trails without supporting your area's bike club you are simply freeloadin'.

 We had a place in Nelson from 2007 to 2012, and I LOVED it there. That said, what I looked forward to more than anything else was heading to Castlegar to hit the trails there, mainly The Awakener. Warmed my heart to see The Diving Board still standing at about 1:40 or so on the video...I hope it stays in some form or fashion. The work that the two Dave's (and I'm sure many others) did to create the elevated skinny sections on that trail absolutely blew my mind and my most prized pictures in my garage are of those features. I still remember when Dave Sutton saw me and a buddy of mine from Idaho who'd come up to ride pushing up Rialto as he was coming down from a hard days work, and him stopping to throw our bikes in his truck and turn around and take us all the way to the brand new top of the trail he'd just finished....ended up being the best day of riding I think I've ever had. Never got a chance to meet Sarah as it sounds like I left about the time she took this position, but really pumped to see all the work going on up there and stoked to see all these good people getting some good press. It's an amazing place folks and I can't wait to go back and hit it again!

 superb. just superb! fantastic filming too ! theres so much to say about this, but I think it needs to start with the end product- the mountainbike itself and the companies that make the machines our souls seem to be driven by.

its 2022.....if it werent for the illegal/unsanctioned/lone wolf trail builders and pioneers from 30 years ago..... (thats a whole generation of riders we are bridging !) .....There would be no northshore scene, kamloops freeride scene, there would be no euro alpine trail scene, there would be no "insert any local name" scene. DH racing would probably be dead in the water due to no forced development from trashed bikes in their thousands falling out the woods on a late 1990's Mt Seymour.

Would we have had disc brakes? dropper posts? 180mm travel bikes that can pedal up hill? 130mm travel bikes that can smash dh's? hardtails that are literally nukeproof? Young kids from Richie Schley to Matt Hunter, to Jackson Goldstone
would never have been inspired to then be the inspiration for you and me.

In Scotland, there would be have been no local scenes - falkland bike park, cambu trails, braefoot bay, innerleithen dh tracks, leading to the 7 stanes project and all the add on trail centres like Laggan, Goslpie, Learnie etc, which led to all the off piste trails which the global collective of, led to Enduro racing and "Enduro" as a thing that we trail riders call our weekend activites. Which just in Scotland alone, has led to literally hundreds of natural secret and not so secret riding venues like the tweed valley scene and the A9 corridor venues - imagine factoring that across the world from iceland, to malaysia from tasmania to madeira - which has led to a whole new income for strava and then the advent of Trail forks.

Of course none of this is possible with out millions of riders buying bikes to ride on these magnificent trails built by only a few thousand folk gobally. The MTB companies profit enormously from the lone wolf builder and the bike industry as a whole needs to step up to the plate and pay back into the communities that have single handedly built their profit margins up. They are starting too, with many funding projects available, hopefully like the trail building scenes this will snowball in to something far bigger than the sum of its parts and hopefully it will be a beautiful thing.

but please dont simply lay the reponsibility of trail building with the big dogs - if you are reading this folks and you have a local trail association or even if you don't , you can be part of the answer rather than part of the problem. create, join or donate to a local trail association.... we are here for everyones benefit. If thats not possible then go build a trail thats nothing like youve ever ridden before.

 Great series! Castlegar is crushing it with the trails and great to see some of the builders and people behind the experience getting recognized. Easy to think of mountain biking as just the act of being on a bike on the trails and forget the work that goes into making that experience possible. Great riding spots don't just sprout up miraculously but happen because people, like you or I, did work to make it happen. The crew in Castlegar has worked hard and their trails are awesome! Support them!

 Must be nice to spend your time building and creating. My volunteering consists entirely of draining mud and trying to rip multi-flora rose out by their evil tenacious roots. That's rewarding too, but in a very different way.

 last trip to the Koots…I was on a big ride with locals and had an awesome time. also realized the difference btwn a double black trail rating in the states and a double black in canada. we rode ancient fall lines, skinny bench lines with expoosure and newer style lines. some brutal stuff and a high pucker factor. if I lived up there it would elevate my trail skillset for sure.
shout out to backroads brewing!

 Love seeing Sarah and Dave doing their thing!! Castlegar trails are world class and its amazing how much they do with so little! If you're in that neck of the woods, go ride or dig and enjoy!

 Love the Koots. Best place in BC.

 grew up in the Idaho Kootenay's. I look back now and realize how perfect it is for MTB. I would buy land and move back if it weren't for the ridiculous winters. lol. truly gods country....

 These are great. Looking forward to a trip out to that area next month.

 The Kootenay’s are special. My best memories have been spent in the East and West Kootenays.

 As I envy those Rogue tools all I can think about is someone please move those controls in and cut that kid's bars at 2:51... my cockpit ocd is just sayin

 Yeah Please more stuff about digging

 Yeah the trails in the Kootenays are OK in a pinch, but have you guys every ridden the Sea to Sky? Its way better

 Inspiring stories! Keep digging and it will all come together